Time flies very quickly, because Concubine Yang is going to celebrate the New Year in Taiwan, which makes Li Yan and Wen Xin very happy. Even before the New Year, Li Yan arranged some military and political affairs and spared most of the time to accompany his mother. In addition, Chou Chou and others soon have winter vacation, making the entire Tainan Palace even more lively.

It is worth mentioning that Li Yan's eldest son Li Qi and Li Ke's eldest son Li Ren are now studying in the junior class of the military academy. They not only have to learn ordinary cultural courses, but also receive quite strict military education. They even fight in front of Concubine Yang like in the military academy, and they are frowning, which makes Concubine Yang feel particularly distressed.

The time for family reunion is fastest. After New Year's Eve, the time has reached the 26th year of Zhenguan. A month later, Yang Fei estimated that the Guanzhong area also began to enter early spring, so she was ready to go back. At the same time, Chou Chou will also go back to Chang'an with her, accompanying her while learning etiquette. In addition, Chou Chou is not young anymore. If she meets a suitable man, Concubine Yang wants to settle the Chou Chou's marriage. Although Li Yan thinks it is a bit too early, it is difficult to refute.

On the tenth day of the second month, Concubine Yang finally set off and went back. That day, Li Yan and his family went to the dock to see off their mother. Xijun and Chou Chou cried bitterly, and Chou Chou almost regretted not going to Chang'an in the end. However, Xijun comforted her a few words, and the girl reluctantly said goodbye to Li Yan and others, and followed Concubine Yang on the boat.

In order to ensure the safety of Yang Fei and Chou Chou, Li Yan arranged a fleet to escort them. The entire fleet was full of steam ships, and the escorted warships were all newly developed steam warships. These warships were not only faster, but also more flexible in steering. The firepower was no worse than the original warships. Now the entire navy is only equipped with such a few.

When he watched the boat Yang Fei and Chou Chou gradually drift away until they disappeared into the sky, Li Yan felt his eyes heat up and almost shed tears in public. Thinking that his mother was getting older, he could not be with him to be filial. Chou Chou grew up so old, which was the first time he had left him, which made him feel extremely concerned.

Just as Yang Fei left Taiwan, the 50,000 army led by Li Ke finally successfully crossed the Mediterranean and came to the Iberian Peninsula again. However, this time he no longer made a small fuss, but began a real journey of conquest.

In addition to the 50,000 troops in the fleet that came with Li Ke this time, there was also a navy composed of ten main warships and hundreds of small and medium-sized warships. The nature of this navy is somewhat special. It belongs entirely to Li Ke in name. He bought all the warships in the navy from Li Yan. However, because Li Yan wanted to replace the navy's sail warships with steam warships, all of the replaced warships were sold to Li Ke very cheaply.

As for the personnel in this navy, most of them are retired soldiers of the Daqi Navy, and even a few officers are active-duty soldiers. Moreover, these soldiers have signed a contract and they will serve under Li Ke for three years. And within three years, a group of elite naval soldiers will be trained for Li Ke.

As for three years, the active officers will return to Daqi to serve, and their positions will definitely rise a lot. Those retired navies will depend on their own intentions. Should they stay here to continue to help Li Ke, or return to Taiwan to retire? Of course, when they leave, Li Ke will give them a considerable amount of money, enough for them to live a much richer life with their children and grandchildren than ordinary retired navies.

With this professional navy as the team, Li Ke was much more confident. When he bombarded the Vision Kingdom last time, Li Ke also collected a lot of information about the Vision Kingdom, so long before he came, he had already formulated the steps to invade the Vision Kingdom with Cen Changqian, Wang Fangyi and others.

First of all, when Li Ke was on an expedition alone, he must first occupy a place of land. Moreover, this place can have a certain development space and economic value, and at least provide food and other supplies. For the selection of this place, Li Ke and the others identified two places at the beginning.

The first place is a place called the Balearic Islands. This archipelago is located in the west of the Mediterranean Sea, which is the west side of the Iberian Peninsula. It is very close to the peninsula and is not small in size. If Li Ke occupied this place, he could rely on his powerful navy and not have to worry about being attacked by foreign enemies. But unfortunately, this archipelago is now under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Roman Empire. If Li Ke seized this place, he would definitely be unhappy with Rome, so they quickly gave up the archipelago.

As for the second place, it was the first place where Li Ke and his friends became famous in the Visigothic Kingdom, which was the port city that guarded the Strait of Gibraltar. The geographical location here is very important. Tax alone is a considerable wealth. In addition, Dinggis is backed by the African continent, so it is not a problem to get food. In addition, it is a strait from the Iberian Peninsula. At that time, as long as Li Ke uses a navy to block the strait, he does not have to worry about the attack of the Visigothic Kingdom.

However, Dinggis also has its own shortcomings. For example, it is located on the African continent. After Li Ke occupied it, he must be guarded against attacks from Africa, especially the Alans and Vandals. The Visionoth Gothic Kingdom was unable to invade North Africa because of these two ethnic groups. However, in comparison, Dinggis' geographical location still has more advantages than disadvantages.

So on a clear morning, Li Yan's fleet entered the Strait of Gibraltar and rushed straight into the port of Dinggis. First, half of the navy was divided into blockade of the strait, and the other half attacked the Visigoth navy stationed at the Port of Dinggis. However, after the last time the navy here was destroyed by Li Ke and the others, there were no time to replenish it. There were very few navies in the port, and there were not even a few warships. Therefore, the entire sea surface of the port was soon controlled by Li Ke.

The next thing was very simple. Five main warships lined up in a row, and more than one hundred artillery were all aimed at Dingjis City. Then Li Ke captured an unlucky businessman and asked him to help pass the message and told the nobles in the city that if they did not surrender within half an hour, he would Dingjis again. And this time, unlike last time, he would blow the entire city into pieces.

Last time, Li Ke bombarded Dinggis, and then bombarded most of the port cities of the Visigoth Kingdom, which had already spread his bad reputation throughout the Visigoth Kingdom. The nobles in Dinggis knew that it was Li Ke, the demon, had returned, and brought a larger fleet, and even wanted to smash the entire city. This made them unable to raise the resistance at all. Finally, after sending an envoy to contact Li Ke, he received Li Ke's promise that after surrendering, the entire Dinggis surrendered directly.

In fact, Li Ke was also a little surprised that Dingjis surrendered so easily, but he realized afterwards that this was mainly caused by two reasons.

The first is the deterrent power of artillery. Li Ke's fleet was called Zeus's scepter by the Visigoth Kingdom. When the artillery was fired, it was like a mountain collapse and cracked. For the Visigoths, it was nothing like a divine punishment. In addition, Li Ke came from the distant and powerful Tang Dynasty and was also the prince of the Tang Dynasty, so his fleet had enough deterrent power that Dinggis dared not resist.

There is another second reason, and this reason is actually caused by Li Ke indirectly. He wiped out Dinggis' navy at the beginning, which weakened Dinggis' defensive power all at once. This allowed the local forces in North Africa, which were adjacent to Dinggis, to seize the opportunity. They have been harassed Dinggis for the past two years, and the Visigoth Kingdom did not send much power to defend, so the Visigoths were already preparing to give up Dinggis and defend the Iberian Peninsula with all their might.

It was precisely these two reasons that Li Yan took down this important city without any effort. At the same time, this also made Wang Fangyi, Cen Changqian and others very excited. After all, this was their first battle in the Mediterranean, and the port of Dingjis was not damaged at all, which saved them a lot of effort.

After occupying Dinggis, Li Ke did not rush to send troops to the Iberian Peninsula, but sent a navy to patrol the strait to prevent the Visigothic Kingdom from sending troops to retaliate. Although the other party had already planned to give up Dinggis, it did not mean that they would let Li Ke occupy it and remain indifferent.

With the naval power in Li Ke's hands, unless the Eastern Roman Empire came to siege with the national navy, there was no force that was his opponent. Therefore, as long as the navy was present, Dinggis would not encounter threats from the sea. Li Ke took advantage of this time to rectify Dinggis' internal affairs and contact local forces in the neighboring North Africa, hoping to sign an agreement with them so that everyone could live in peace.

Speaking of the situation near Dingis, it is really complicated. At the beginning, this place was the territory next to Western Rome, but later occupied by the Alans and Vandals, and later defeated by the Eastern Roman Empire. Until now, this place is nominally a territory next to Eastern Rome.

But the name is based on the name. With the rise of the Great Cannibal, the Eastern Roman Empire lost even Egypt, and these places west of Egypt were sooner or later. However, the expansion power of the Great Cannibal expansion is limited, and it has not yet reached its hands to the places like Dingis, which led to the rise of tycoons in these places. Even the Vandals and Alans who had been destroyed were rekindled and raised their flags to stand on their own.
Chapter completed!